San Diego Chargers wide receiver Patrick Crayton battles Denver Broncos safety Renaldo Hill along the sidelines while gaining 49 yards on a pass during the first half of a NFL football game Monday, Nov. 22, 2010, in San Diego.

SAN DIEGO — In the offensively-challenged St. Louis Rams, the Broncos may have the match-up they need to heal up on defense, but their specialty packages took a beating at San Diego on Monday night.

The team lost safeties Darcel McBath (thigh) and David Bruton (ribs) to injuries in the game. With cornerback Andre’ Goodman still hurting (thigh/hip), it’s going to be difficult for the Broncos to line up against three- and four-wide receiver sets if some of those players don’t return to the field.

The Broncos have not used a nickel (five defensive backs) package in the past three games, choosing instead to answer passing downs with dime package (six defensive backs).

They then move safety Brian Dawkins down inside, where a linebacker would normally be, to try to hold up against the run if teams try to run it against a smaller formation.

But it was McBath and Nate Jones who had been coming into the game when the Broncos went into the dime. When McBath left the game Monday night at San Diego, it was Bruton who went into the game.

When Bruton left the game it was rookie Syd’Quan Thompson who went in with Jones. That gives the Broncos little margin for error at the position at the moment.

Rookie safety Kyle McCarthy, largely a special teams player, was the only other defensive back in uniform Monday night since rookie cornerback Cassius Vaughn was a game day inactive.

The Rams use their backs and tight ends a little more in the passing game than most teams, especially in the scoring zone, so the Broncos will use more linebackers in coverage from time to time.

But with a Rams advance scout on hand in San Diego Monday night, the Rams likely will push the Broncos into some of those specialty packages in the game, just to see how Denver responds.

And they will be aiming to force Dawkins to cover in the open field and will test one of the multiple rookies who likely will be in the formation as well.

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